The updraft was nice, the radiant pulses spiraling under Scarlet’s wings, pushing her form higher and higher into the sky. From the forest floor it had been dark and gloomy, but up here the sun was still shining down with no branches to obscure its force. This trip had been mostly uneventful, Scarlet having almost called it off yesterday in favour of giving up on finding anything in this part of the forest. That was, until today.
Today blessings had fallen upon her in great bounty, though. At the break of dawn she had managed to catch wind of a small fox. This, now a little over an hour later, was going to be her third catch of the day. The badger strafed around the clearing, dodging from outcropping to outcropping, almost as if it sensed the great eagle watching from high in the sky. Of course, it didn’t, it couldn’t, and if it could it would have understood that its dark brown coat glinted in the sunlight in a way that no small bush could hide.
Maybe this beast had a family waiting for it, newborn young that needed to be taken care of. It didn’t matter, it was the rule of the forest, each beast had what it needed to take care of. In Scarlet’s case, they might just provide her enough money to keep living till her next hunting trip. Of course, badger pelt wasn’t worth much, but meat was meat and would always sell.
Her wings sucked inwards in rapid fashion, her sleek eagle body angling itself downwards like a missile. Wind resistance was nothing in a form like this, she barreled through the air like it stood still around her. Seconds was all it took for her to make the descent from her perch in the sky to the cleared forest floor below, her wings cascading open with only seconds to spare for the careless. Of course, she was hardly careless.
The bush in front of her rustled slightly. Had the badger notice her blistering descent? It didn’t matter, there was no time for the beast to react. Her eagle form blew through the bush at a blistering pace, one outstretched talon darting out. Within the span of a millisecond the talon found its target, tightening compulsively into the side of the beast, dragging it through the bush without so much as a care of it’s thrashing.
As Scarlet skimmed the floor, her wings desperately flapping to regain her altitude, the thrashing slowed down. The badger, dragged partially across the forest floor, gave up on escape as the talon crushed deeper into his body. Blood was slowly seeping from the three holes in his abdomen, partially ruining the valueless coat. Still, if she could drain his blood on the tip back, that would be one less thing to accomplish tonight. On her way back to the updraft an erratic flight path helped her to shake out moderate remnants of the blood in the badgers body, his weakening movements beginning to cease altogether.
There is always one downside to every advantage. In the case of a Kelvic, intelligence came with the price of retrospect. In retrospect, Scarlet would never attempt to do something quite so stupid as weaving around again. The updraft was just as calming the second time around, but in order to ride its precious thermal currents one had to stay relatively still. Well, you could only circle inside the updraft or else you would fall out.
Half way through the ride was when her opponent decided to take the opportunity to strike. Opponent was a rather weak work to describe a falcon, but in a forest all beasts compete for food. The falcon struck out with blistering speed, diving in from an awkward angle. While Scarlet noticed it in time to move, it was impossible to fully dodge with the added weight of the badger. The far faster foe gashed into her side with one talon, blood beginning to spread along her already struggling wings.
The impact had knocked Scarlet’s body into a death spiral, attempting vainly to recover her flight with the weight of the badger beneath her. There was no damn way she was going to be bested by a standard falcon, weight or no weight. Finally, a third of the way to the ground her body righted, her wings flapping feverishly, and the concept of luck hit her like a ton of bricks while a falcon sized missile zoomed under her pert struggling body.
Had she been even a split second later in her recovery the falcon would have impacted her and could have very nearly killed her, Kelvic or not. Still, she was at a distinct disadvantage here. She was barely gaining altitude and her acceleration was already suffering from the pain in her side. On the other side, her falcon fiend was already adjusting course for another missile like assault. Any other eagle would have dropped her prey in order to win the battle for supremacy, or died trying. But, Scarlet was hardly any other eagle. She fully intended to win and keep the badger firmly in talon. Now, if only she had a plan to go along with that crazy bravado.
Arcing around, the falcon began it’s next descent, the speed and course were easy enough for her to understand, but it would be nearly impossible to dodge with the current drag on her wings. Terror gripped her, every possible option, sans actually dropping the badger, ran through her mind in rapid succession. None seemed capable of working, at least none seemed crazy enough to properly work. It was, fitting enough, the last split second and the first instinct that would ultimately save the eagle.
In that last split second, Scarlet flipping herself in mid air, rolling out of the attack path and simultaneously sticking out her talon. She didn’t have enough momentum to make the roll fully, but her talon grasped into falcon’s neck, crushing it nearly instantly. In the aftermath Scarlet began to tumble towards the ground again. The added weight of the falcon proved almost impossible to fully recover with.
As the forest floor loomed impeccably close one wing finally caught the wind again, every muscle straining to use the momentum to right herself. Slowly but surely the other wing managed to extend outward again, flapping like mad. Five feet, that was all she had left as she came to a hover over the forest floor. Scarlet earnestly doubted, as she strained against the added weight and her own exhaustion, that she had the proper energy to risk that kind of a fight again. Instead, she would return to camp like this. Sure it would take longer and be more tiring, but under the canopy there were fewer animals that would try to compete with an eagle, even an injured eagle.
Today blessings had fallen upon her in great bounty, though. At the break of dawn she had managed to catch wind of a small fox. This, now a little over an hour later, was going to be her third catch of the day. The badger strafed around the clearing, dodging from outcropping to outcropping, almost as if it sensed the great eagle watching from high in the sky. Of course, it didn’t, it couldn’t, and if it could it would have understood that its dark brown coat glinted in the sunlight in a way that no small bush could hide.
Maybe this beast had a family waiting for it, newborn young that needed to be taken care of. It didn’t matter, it was the rule of the forest, each beast had what it needed to take care of. In Scarlet’s case, they might just provide her enough money to keep living till her next hunting trip. Of course, badger pelt wasn’t worth much, but meat was meat and would always sell.
Her wings sucked inwards in rapid fashion, her sleek eagle body angling itself downwards like a missile. Wind resistance was nothing in a form like this, she barreled through the air like it stood still around her. Seconds was all it took for her to make the descent from her perch in the sky to the cleared forest floor below, her wings cascading open with only seconds to spare for the careless. Of course, she was hardly careless.
The bush in front of her rustled slightly. Had the badger notice her blistering descent? It didn’t matter, there was no time for the beast to react. Her eagle form blew through the bush at a blistering pace, one outstretched talon darting out. Within the span of a millisecond the talon found its target, tightening compulsively into the side of the beast, dragging it through the bush without so much as a care of it’s thrashing.
As Scarlet skimmed the floor, her wings desperately flapping to regain her altitude, the thrashing slowed down. The badger, dragged partially across the forest floor, gave up on escape as the talon crushed deeper into his body. Blood was slowly seeping from the three holes in his abdomen, partially ruining the valueless coat. Still, if she could drain his blood on the tip back, that would be one less thing to accomplish tonight. On her way back to the updraft an erratic flight path helped her to shake out moderate remnants of the blood in the badgers body, his weakening movements beginning to cease altogether.
There is always one downside to every advantage. In the case of a Kelvic, intelligence came with the price of retrospect. In retrospect, Scarlet would never attempt to do something quite so stupid as weaving around again. The updraft was just as calming the second time around, but in order to ride its precious thermal currents one had to stay relatively still. Well, you could only circle inside the updraft or else you would fall out.
Half way through the ride was when her opponent decided to take the opportunity to strike. Opponent was a rather weak work to describe a falcon, but in a forest all beasts compete for food. The falcon struck out with blistering speed, diving in from an awkward angle. While Scarlet noticed it in time to move, it was impossible to fully dodge with the added weight of the badger. The far faster foe gashed into her side with one talon, blood beginning to spread along her already struggling wings.
The impact had knocked Scarlet’s body into a death spiral, attempting vainly to recover her flight with the weight of the badger beneath her. There was no damn way she was going to be bested by a standard falcon, weight or no weight. Finally, a third of the way to the ground her body righted, her wings flapping feverishly, and the concept of luck hit her like a ton of bricks while a falcon sized missile zoomed under her pert struggling body.
Had she been even a split second later in her recovery the falcon would have impacted her and could have very nearly killed her, Kelvic or not. Still, she was at a distinct disadvantage here. She was barely gaining altitude and her acceleration was already suffering from the pain in her side. On the other side, her falcon fiend was already adjusting course for another missile like assault. Any other eagle would have dropped her prey in order to win the battle for supremacy, or died trying. But, Scarlet was hardly any other eagle. She fully intended to win and keep the badger firmly in talon. Now, if only she had a plan to go along with that crazy bravado.
Arcing around, the falcon began it’s next descent, the speed and course were easy enough for her to understand, but it would be nearly impossible to dodge with the current drag on her wings. Terror gripped her, every possible option, sans actually dropping the badger, ran through her mind in rapid succession. None seemed capable of working, at least none seemed crazy enough to properly work. It was, fitting enough, the last split second and the first instinct that would ultimately save the eagle.
In that last split second, Scarlet flipping herself in mid air, rolling out of the attack path and simultaneously sticking out her talon. She didn’t have enough momentum to make the roll fully, but her talon grasped into falcon’s neck, crushing it nearly instantly. In the aftermath Scarlet began to tumble towards the ground again. The added weight of the falcon proved almost impossible to fully recover with.
As the forest floor loomed impeccably close one wing finally caught the wind again, every muscle straining to use the momentum to right herself. Slowly but surely the other wing managed to extend outward again, flapping like mad. Five feet, that was all she had left as she came to a hover over the forest floor. Scarlet earnestly doubted, as she strained against the added weight and her own exhaustion, that she had the proper energy to risk that kind of a fight again. Instead, she would return to camp like this. Sure it would take longer and be more tiring, but under the canopy there were fewer animals that would try to compete with an eagle, even an injured eagle.